Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1887-04-03
NEW YoRK's SEWING wo,sapw,,
A Little Practical Contrivance an,
Ingenuity Solves a Problem,

Ingenuity Solves a Problem
NEW YORK, April 2.-The modis,,
came down from her sanctum sanctorun,
on the top floor of one of New York,s III
dry goods establishments to wispess ~
glories OF the spring opening the otbo,
day. In one corner of the brilliant roo,
two simple cloth gowns stood side bv sida
The dressmaker halted in her tour NJ Nh
servation in front of these twin prodpot.
| or the needlewoman's skill, lifted 10
| price marks and held them out to me on ne
in either hand, with French wom.nis
| expressive gesture.
| lively dollare; sixty-tife dollara y
she said, offering me one, then the Ohio
and finally dropping both with a iit.it
shrug and wave of the hand that clearsS
her skirts of responsibility for either
| This l make; that the firm buv. !,
| cost me twenty dollare to hire what tbo
manufacturer get from the sewing woman
for two. Mine is the bettare, but not
forty dollare bettare; it is all in the nrjcs
that is for the sewing pay"
| Half an hour after this object lessen in
the why's and Wherefores of city prices
met the head of one of the largest iobbina
firms dealing in women's and chiIdren,s
clothing in the country. '''ve q story
for you," he said, land you couIdn;t
come at better time to hear it than
| now"
"The worm turns" he went on. mo.
tioning me to spot from which could
see the Cashiers desk just outside the
office in which we stood, "but the sewing
| woman doesn't rebel. At least she never
did till now. She has surprised me hv
her first revolt, and 1t takes so sensible q
| shape that the only pity is she neyer
| thought of an uprising before.
"See that woman out therer as figure
In hat and shawl came within the range
| OF view. doesn't look like heroine of
romance exactly, does she? But she's
the central figure OF my tale. just out of
a tenement house. Narrow chest; little
stoop in the shoulders; not much color
no tine to curl her hair" and the nara.
tor went on jerking out the points of de.
| scriptlon, while | noted the understood
middle-aged figure and the drawn look of
perpetual alertness about ones bread and
butter IN the corners of what were origi.
nally constructed for pretty blue gray
| eyes.
MADE her acquaintance some tbres
| months ago." the manufacturer went on
She came to me just at this time of today
to ask for work. You know how our
| business Is carried on, L suppose? MOI
| Well, then, it's like this. We want so
many thousand dresses. according to our
orders froIu the dry goods firms, in the
average women's and misses sizes ready
for delivery at specified times. We give
out the material, ready cut for the most
| part, to jObbers VINO undertake to get it
| made for US. Sometimes they give 1t
directly to the sewing women, but ottener
| than not they let the WORK out to under
contractors, and these let 1t out yet again,
| One poor gown goes through good many
bands before it comes back to rs ready
for the market.
"Cut down the pay? or course it outs
down the pay. The price is low enough
anyhow. We can't help that. The suits
have got to be made to sell, If they sell at
all, at figures that don't leave much for
the making. 1t is unskilled labor, too
you know. The suits are cut by machn.
cry, and the making is all line for line,
measure for measure. with fifty or hun
dred in succession. 1t isn't possible that
the business should pay high wages, but
what | have been getting at is that the
sewing woman gets precious little OF
what it does pay.
"Deal with the girls directly? Did you
| ever know man who would concern
himself with 10000 when he could do his
business with a dozen equally wells
After all, though, that is just what that
woman out there has been making me do
to all intents and purposes of late, and
|
wanted you TO hear.
.sShe asked me first for a contract for
thirty dresses to be made for the firm. |
stared at her, 1 suppose, for l took her
for an amateur woman Jobber on small
| scale. | had agents enough to place my
work and told her so. Her order wasn't
big enough for a wholesaler to bother
with, and she couldn't raise the cash to
pay the deposit on it If tt were.
| n0uldntt toll n thfa dav how n n4me
about that let her have what she asked
for, for get it she did. l suppose she
looked honest and capable too, in spite OF
the thin face that hadn't been rounded
out by q decent meal In months. She
emptied her pocket-book Of its one lone
some bank note and a handful of silver,
and sent the cloth the same day to the
address she gave.
"That work was done, let me tell you
the most promptly of any had out. IL
came back before had begun to look for
1t, and they said in the finishing room
that it was in very good shape. I've been
letting her have goods pretty regularly
since, and the orders have been creeping
up by degrees till now she takes forty or
fifty or sometimes even sixty dresses az
once.
sit was only two or three weeks ago
that l got at the true fnwardness OF the
thing. The man that drives the delivery
wagon got hint OF it and she told me tne
rest. She isn't making business oil tOa
her own account at all, 1t seems; doesn't
let the work out at lower rates yet W
poorer beggars than herself. She Is sim
ply acting as the deputy, or mouthplece,
of a whole tenement houseful oil women
who got tired OF being starved by the Jou-
bers and working sixteen hours day lol
next to nothing a week.
'She comes from one Of the regular eas'
side hives, so they tell me, that Is ruu.
ming over with women who have oeel
wearing their lives out over needles'
thread and sewing machines for year,
There must be somebody OF unusual
sense and executive ability among them
am pretty sure it is the same woman
who comes to me-for they set about Ial.
sacking the hooks and corners Of tDe I1
brains for a remedy. 1t sounds sl9p,p
enough thing to say that they decideu,u
that this woman decided tor them, 10 sI'o
the middlemen the 60 by ana comS
straight to manufacturers headquaite'I
for work; but in spite OF its simpliclH
don't believe that any OF the se"ir y,
women have done the thing before, %
that there is at present any bette. Tu,
for the troubles of the GLASS. Two uV ~, .he
or SO is precious poor money Tor al ."o
labor 1t costs, but it maKss dihelenSSit
after all, whether you get the Whole "